Railway-rail.



P. McMAHON.

RAILWAY RAIL.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 15. 1913.

- Patented July 20, 1915.

IN VEN TOR.

W1 TNESSES:

A TTOR NE Y6.

PHILLIP MGTMAHON, OF MITCHELL, SOUTH DAKOTA.

RAILWAY-RAIL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 2%, 1915.

Application filed April 15, 1918. Serial No. 761,369.

To all whomt't may concern 7 Be it known that I, PHILLIP MGMAHON, acitizen of the United States, residing at Mitchell, in the county ofDavison and State of South Dakota, have invented a certain new anduseful Railway-Rail, of which the following is a specification. V I

The object of my invention is to provide a'railway rail of simple anddurable construction so constructed and arranged as to furnish acontinuous rail member for the wheels of cars to travel over.

A further object is to provide such a rail so constructed and arrangedthat when the tread portion of the rail becomes worn, the worn part maybe removed and replaced without removing the base of the'railfrom theties and without removing the larger part of the rail. I

My invention consists in certain details,

in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts ofthe device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, ashereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claim andillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a railway rail embodying myinvention. Fig. 2 shows a perspective view of the baseportion of therail, and Fig. 3 shows a perspective view of one of my tread portions.

In the accompanying drawings, I have used the reference numeral 10 toindicate generally the base of a rail which is of ordinary construction.Extending upwardly from the portion 10 is the shank 11 which is providedwith a longitudinal Vshaped slot 12. At the upper edges of the V-shapedportion are laterally extending flanges 13. The tread portion of myimproved railway rail is made in two halves, the tread portion beingdivided longitudinally. Each half comprises a tread body 14substantially half as wide as the ordinary tread portion of a rail.Extending downwardly from the lower inner edge of each tread portion 14is a flange 15 substantially V-shaped in cross section but slightlyconcave or dished out on its inner surface.

I place two of my tread portions together with the flanges 15 adjacentto each other and extending down into the V-shaped slot 12. On accountof the fact that the adjacent surfaces of the flanges 15 are slightlyconcave there is a narrow space between the groove 21 to receive alongitudinal ridge 22 on each shank 15. On account of the constructionof the groove 21 and ridge or head 22, if the tread portion and flange15 of one half rail should break at some point between the fish plates,the broken ends of thefiange 15 would be locked between the portions 11and could not work upwardly leaving'a bad projecting point. It will beunderstood that the shanks 15 are some what resilient. It follows thaton account of the construction shown one shank 15 may be installed inthe V-shaped channel with its bead or edge 22 received in the propergroove 21, and therefore the other flange may be forced downwardly intoposition.

' On account of the concavity of the adjacent faces of the flanges, theflanges during the installation may be sprung together to accommodatethe ridge 21 on the second flange 15, and to permit said ridge to passinto the proper groove 22.

Instead of ordinary fish plates, I employ fish plates of a modified formcomprising the body portions formed of vertical plates 17. At the loweredge of the body portions 17 is a downwardly and outwardly extendingplate member 18 at the outer edge of which is a portion curveddownwardly and then inwardly which I have indicated by the referencenumeral 19. The fish plates are preferably formed with slightlythickened portions at their upper. ends so that when installed thebodies of said fish plates stand apart slightly from the shank 11 asshown in Fig. 1. I have provided bolts 20 extend ing through the bodymembers 17 of the fish plates and through the walls of the shanks 11 andthrough the flanges 15. The fact that the upper edges of the fish platesare thickened causes the bodies thereof to be sprung toward the shanks11 when the nuts are screwed upon the bolts 20, and the resiliency ofthe fish plates causes them to exert yielding pressure against the nuts,thus serving as nut locks.

In the practical use of my improved railway rail, the arrangement of thetread portionin longitudinally divided halves makes it possible to makea continuous rail for the wheels of the cars to travel on. This is madepossible by alternating the joints as above set forth. The purpose ofthe concave surface flange 15 is to permit the resiliency of the rail toforce together the upper adjacent edges of the tread portions l l. Itwill readily be seen that any tread portion l l which may be worn orbroken may be easily and quickly removed and replaced. This can be donewithout removing the base of the rail from the ties.

f It is Well known that rails usually wear more on one side. It ishowever a fact with "the ordinary rails that, when one side has worn toa certain extent, it is necessary to Gopies of this patent may beobtained for tained until it becomes too worn for further use.

I claim as my invention:

In a device of the class described, a rail base, a web thereon providedwith a V- shaped channel, a two-part tread portion, each part thereofcomprising a body, and a downwardly extending resilient flange, theflanges of the two parts being designed to be placed adjacent to eachother and received in said V-shaped portion being formed with coactinglongitudinal ridges and grooves in their adjacent surfaces, said partsbeing so arranged that when one fiange isinstalled in said channel theother flange may be forced into the channel and on account of theresiliency and theconcave faces of the flanges, they may be sprungtogether during such installation to accommodate the ridges. I

Des Moines, Iowa, March 21, 1913.

, PHILLIP McMAI-ION.

vWitnesses: r

J. J. LAHEY, IIARRYVHAVENS.

five cents each, by addressing the Lommissioner of Patents,

washingtonyDrc. r

